


Mutually Beneficial

by fingalsanteater



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Episode Tag, Gen, Kayfabe Compliant, Up to the 10222015 SmackDown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 17:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5013181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fingalsanteater/pseuds/fingalsanteater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summer Rae knows Dolph Ziggler is always game, despite his assertion to the contrary. She just has to find the right words that will entice him to play. Set after SmackDown - October, 15, 2015.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mutually Beneficial

Summer confronted Dolph just as he was coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. Again.

"How'd you get in here?" He asked, less incredulous and more curious. The door had been locked but Summer was pretty handy at finding her way into places she wanted to be. Lock picking was a great skill to have for a woman who often bartered with truth and falsities. Dolph didn't quite underestimate her, but he had never been completely won over by her charms either.

"Your tan lines are less noticeable this time," she said, and Dolph's mouth twisted wryly. He dropped the towel a little lower, showing off the pale curve of his hip.

Summer rolled her eyes. "Keep it PG, Ziggler. I'm not here for that."

"What are you here for, then? I told you I'm not playing games, Summer."

She'd been trying to keep cool, but all the irritation that had been building in her over the last couple of months took this opportunity to escape like steam from a kettle.

"Oh, save it. Are you too good to play games with me? Because you were perfectly willing to play games with Lana and Rusev all damn summer. How's it feel, by the way, to have lost?"

Dolph laughed casually and that irritated Summer even further. He pulled up a plastic, hard-backed chair and plopped down, legs spread wide enough that any pretense of modesty was out the window if she dared look down. So, she stared him straight in his baby blue eyes and just dared him to say something infuriating.

"I didn't lose that game," he said, too smug for his own good. "I knew exactly what I was getting into."

"Really?" She asked, looking for a snag in him to catch her nails on, to pull on until it unraveled. "So you expected Lana would go behind your back and start planning a wedding with Rusev?"

His smile faltered slightly. She had him.

"Ha! You didn't, did you? You thought she was really into you. Yeah, she was using you at first, you knew that, but you really did think she'd forgotten about him there at the end." She was triumphant, voice filled with glee as she pulled the string, unraveling him word by word. "Oh, you were the sun in her sky, you thought. You thought she revolved around you, didn't you? And then look now, she really was using you the entire time." Summer laughed until tears leaked from her eyes.

"I don't know what you're so happy about," said Dolph, darkly. "It's not like your little affair with Rusev panned out. You were kicked to the curb by the same pair of boots as me. You said so yourself. We both got burned."

The truth sobered her slightly. He was right, she'd had plans for Rusev. She was going to get a title on him and they were going to get more matches, more opportunities. She had plans of going straight to the top, farther than Lana had ever gone. Her fantasies of carrying the Heavyweight championship belt in her arms, standing side-by-side with Rusev, had been shattered by betrayal.

"See, but that's what I'm talking about!" Summer said, perking up suddenly. "You got used by Lana," - Dolph frowned deeply - "Hang on, hang on, just hear me out. Lana used you cruelly and Rusev was too stupid to see that I was the best thing that ever happened to him. I mean, I did get him that number one contender shot, even if he wasted it." Dolph nodded in agreement with her last statement, but impatiently added, "Get to the point, Summer."

She sucked her teeth, pausing to work through how to phrase her suggestion. "You know that I just want to use you to get to the top, right? And you eventually want to get back on top, right?" Dolph muttered a sarcastic yes to first question and an emphatic yes to the second.

"So, no games," she continued. "We both know what the other is about and we work together. With our beauty and brains combined, you can have that Heavyweight belt around your waist in no time."

Dolph huffed out a sardonic laugh. "You're going to line up my execution by Kane when he's got the Heavyweight Championship, aren't you? I'm not dying for a title belt."

"Hey, Kane doesn't have the title yet. Anything can happen," Summer said, not quite believing her own words.

"Rollins is slimy but Kane is... well, it's Kane. We'll be power washing pieces of Rollins out of the cage after that match."

Summer shuddered at the image and tried to refocus. "Forget about Kane and Rollins right now. Back to you and me."

"There is no you and me," said Dolph.

Pouting, Summer said, "But there could be? A mutually beneficial relationship? I get you to the top with my excellent managerial skills, and you win matches for me and keep me in the spotlight. There it is, straight up."

Dolph leaned forward, looking Summer in the eyes for so long that she felt the uncomfortable need to escape his gaze. Instead she forced herself to stare back, hoping conviction was showing on her face and not unease.

"I'll think about it," he finally said, and stood up in preparation to usher her out. 

The tension in the room shattered like glass. She was afraid a piece had nicked an artery because she'd never felt so drained.

"You'll think about it," she repeated, weakly.

"Yeah, I'll think about it. You made some good points, but I just got out of a bad relationship and I'm actually tired." Dolph sighed and scrubbed his hand through his still wet hair. "For once in my life, I'm actually tired of playing games with women. Can you believe it? Me, tired of women."

Summer laughed. "Lana messed you up real good, huh?"

"Don't get me wrong," said Dolph, "she's an amazing woman and if she wants that Bulgarian idiot, more power to her. But, she had me there, for a second. There was just something about her. Probably why Rusev couldn't stay away either."

"You're being awful truthful," said Summer, suspicion hedging in her voice. Suspicion was better than the jealousy that was beginning to creep in. She wanted to ask what so great about Lana. Instead she asked, "What's the catch?"

"There's no catch. I thought we were being 'straight up?' No pretenses. Did you care about Rusev at all?" 

The question surprised her. It was almost a non-sequitor, but she could see the logic. She didn't have to think about the answer. "No, not really. He was too hung up on Lana. We were both lying to each other the entire time and we barely tried to hide it."

"You think that's better or worse than what me and Lana had?"

Another surprising question. This one she had to think about. "I guess it depends," she said, obviously unsure of her feelings. "I mean, on one hand, you and Lana were happy for a while. She may have been using you, but she played you so good you forgot you were even in the game."

Dolph laughed and so did she.

"On the other hand," she continued, more sure now, "going in to a relationship knowing that you're using each other for mutual gain is pretty good too. Rusev really is an idiot. We could've gone places, and instead he crawled back to Lana on his hands and knees."

"That's what you're looking for with me? Mutual gain."

The thread that'd been unraveling finally pulled free.

"Yeah," she said. "You and me are going to shake things up around here. Starting with getting a championship on you."

"Just any old belt, then?" He grinned widely. They'd be good together. Without all the pretense and lies, they'd be so good.

"Any one you want, Ziggler."

"Aw, no pet names? Not going to call me baby or honey or... Zi-zi?" He teased.

She cringed and quickly sloughed off her embarrassment like a oversized jacket. "Ugh, don't remind me."

"It's hard to resist," he said and winked at her.

"Okay, well," she said, standing and straightening her skirt. She was secretly amused, but trying not to give him the satisfaction. "I'm off to see Kane about your match."

"And what makes you so confident he'll agree to book one?" Asked Dolph, genuinely puzzled by her surety.

Her heels clicked smartly against the tile as she approached the door. Turning the knob, she looked back at him over her shoulder and said, "Oh, he's a big fan of mine. He never misses an episode of Total Divas."

He choked out a surprised laugh. "Maybe you should challenge him for the Heavyweight championship after he takes it off Rollins. Seems like you're the one with the advantage here." 

"I am," she agreed. "And don't you forget it."


End file.
